Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

, " - -..H Hm . ft.~~~ ,'3Im!-r~M·ft'P.~'~~~~ft'.,~ led a four-m an U .S. team mounted on the new Penton cycle. His oldest son , Tom, then 18, rode a 125cc Penton to a silver medal on his first attempt at Six Days riding, and John and another team member, Dave Mungenast , each picked up a bronze for finishing. These were the only medals won by Americans that year. Party because of John Penton and his line of American-designed, Austrianbuilt motorcycles, all enduro bikes improved , and the sport has boomed in every area of North America where there's challenging and accessible terrain. Money is all you need to get the right motorcycle and to campaign it , but the riding skill needed to do well, or even finish within the time limit.. is acquired only by riding and more riding , practicing techniques and competing often and hard . New England Trail R id e r Association. which has run en dures and enduro schools for many years, recommends its members have 3, 000 miles of trailrid ing experience before entering a n enduro for the first time. It's the best way to learn to read a strange trail quickly and to negotiate unfamiliar obstacles. ;I ~ t 0') I:"0') ..... 0 ..... t' ~ = c:: ~ ~ What the scores mean Rid ing enduros is a woman' s sport. t oo. 34 enduro pace - past secret ch eckpoints along the run after you 've spent 10 minutes digging your bik e out of th e mud or stopped to change a sparkplug or replace a broken throttle cable. If you 've had trouble, then you 'll hav e to gas it when you get go ing again , . passing every rider you catch up to for awhile, even on tight trails. and really dialing it on when you come to a clear stretch of fire road or two -track lane. To get this speed and to get through the obstacles without delay, you need a motorcycle with good power , correct gearing and superior handling. As a rider, it helps to have natural agility combined with skills that often take years to acquire and master , mechanical kn ow-how to set up your bike beforehand and to make adjustments and repairs during a run , far from help with only what you carry, and the stamina and willpower to keep you going . And it's easier and more furi if you have an experienced gas crew to fuel and feed you when you need it and find you when you 're broken down far ou t on the course. All of these th ings, and a lot of other stuff that should help you have fun and hopefully success with enduro rid ing, are covered in som e detail in this book. . Like other kinds of motorcycling . enduro riding go t its biggest boost and be came respectable when low-cost . reliable Japanese machines came on th e North American market in increasing numbers during the middle and late Sixti es. Dual purpose street trail cycles la belled "enduro" " me ca from Honda , Kawasaki, Suzuki a nd Yamaha and ga ve riders a tast e of th e di rt a nd ideas of com pe ting . But if you wer e reall y serious a bou t go ing after t ro p h ies , yo u look ed a c ro ss th e Atlanti c to Sweden . Ge rm a ny. Czech oslovak ia a nd other Eu ropean countries where rough -terrai n ridi ng nourish ed and manufa cturers .l ike • Husqvarna , Zundapp , MZ and J awa were build ing ' rugged , sp ec ia lized motorcycles for th is kind of backwoods competition, often at twice th e p rice of the Oriental bikes. These 'were the motorcycles ca rrying ,their riders to gold and silver med als at the In tern a tiona l Six Days T rials ISDT - a gruelling event run in .a different country each year. This annual battle between nat ions , manufacturers and individual riders is run over the same kind of course as an enduro. although it is scored differently. It also includes special speed and sou n d tests , and the re are tight restrictions on parts of a bik e which can be replaced. All repairs must be done by the rider, without outside help , during the entire six days of th e event. John Penton's enduro dynasty Among the top U .S . riders a t the time was John Penton of Lorain , Ohio , one of the first Americans to regularly enter the ISDT . When he first com pe ted in th is event in 1962 at Garrnisch , West Germany , John rode a 250cc BMW, a heavy machine which would never be considered for off-road use today, then he later switched to the much lighter 250cc Hu sq varna on whi ch he won the U .S . National Enduro Championship in 1969 when he was 43 years old. John Penton never took home a gold medal from the ISDT in all the years he ent ered, although he was close one yea r until an injury slowed his tim e in a special test and ruined a n othe rwise go ld medal score . Year after yea r he travelled to Eu rope at his own expense to try again . Bec ause th er e are no professi ona ls in ISDT or e n d u ro com pe tition - exce p t a few fa cto ry and government rid ers and tea ms he never won any m oney eit he r , but he did come up with his idea of th e idea l e nd uro mot or cycle . a nd he sta rted what for almost 10 yea rs look ed like a n Scoring an enduro is a lot like a sports car rally - each rid er starts out with 1,000 points and is penalized for being ea rly or late at each of a series of checkpoints along the marked route, usually at places unknown to the riders. You try to maintain th e preannounced ayerage speed or speeds for the run, a near im possib le goal even at th e 24 mph pace used in most events , because the penalties for straying from this schedule are severe . Under AMA rul es. you get two points off for the first minute early at a check. five for each additional m inu te early , and one point for. each minute late, If you're more than 15 minutes early or an hour late at any checkpoint you 're d isqualified. Ti~ are broken at a special check . where seconds in addition to minutes are counted. Winning scores vary widely with each event due to differences in terrain, length and difficulty of the course , and weather before and d uring the run . The record win in the Jack Pine, for instance, is only six points off in more than 400 milesl . Compare that score of 994 for a long, two -day run with the results of the 1973 Black Coal 125-Mile National Enduro in southern Indiana _ the winner, J #ck Penton , 'John's youngest son , scored 816 and was one of only 10 riders out of the 400 who started the event to make it through the' en d less mud to the finish . And of those 10, only Jack and second place finisher Bill Kain of. Pittsburgh did it within their hour. Bill was one point behind and on his wa y to becoming national champion that year. Other top enduro riders like Dick Burleson, who has won the championship every yea r since then. fell victim to the mud . H itt ing checkpoints accurately is no accident . Every serious rider, even the beginners, has a resetrable speed omerer , one or two watches , a routeholder d is-playing information about time and distance to ea ch turn of the course; and often spe cia lized. more. sophisticated devi ces design ed to eliminate th e ' need ' for making ' calcu lations while riding top speed on difficult. trails. Even something lower than higher mathematics ca n divert your attent ion fr om a menaci ng stum p . a wash ed ou t trai l or a halfh idden turn arrow . d ro p pi ng you down in the standings. You m ust f inish t o w in But th e best motorcycle piloted by the best rider will not even fin ish an p roperly prepa red beforeha and enough tools and spare parts are carried to make repairs in the field. An enduro is not only a test of your endurance, but that of your machine, and every run is laid out with both in mind. Butt-bruising bumps in endless succession, deep sand, mud and water, rocks , logs, tangled underbrush - all try to tear you and your motorcycle apart until you stop running. Knowing this , it 's surprising that unless you're a beginner you're not nervous as you line up at the start and wait for your minute to come up. You 've prepared for this moment, and you're looking forward to the ride. Breakdowns during previous enduros are far from your mind. Perhaps the nightmare of a giant bog or unclimable hill may linger , but more J ikely you're thinking of ways to get into the groove quickly, to keep your speed on the twisting, tree-lined trail. By the time you reach noon gas about halfway through the day's run, both you and your motorcycle need refueling for sure. As your pit crew tends to the bike, you down some Gator Ade or water and take a few quick bites of high energy food m aybe a peanut butter and jelly sandwich , candy or concentrated food sticks. If there's a half-hour or onehour layover and you 're not running late you can rest , but most riders find they have to hurry _ they need those minutes to get back on schedule. Not every rider makes it to the finish , even on a fairl y easy run , no matter how well prepared . A lost gas crew can run you out of fuel and leave you stranded mil es fr om the nearest road if you try to keep on going. A thrown ch a in may spoil your da y suddenly with a mess of broken gears. A hidden stump or unyielding tree might send you to th e hospital , even though serious injuries are rare. Beat the Champion? What is the lure of motorcycle enduro rid ing? What keeps all kinds of ordinary , intelligent , fun -loving people coming back for more if this seemingly senseless punishment where there's hardly a handful of spectators to witness the toughest tests? The challenge, and fun , of difficult, endlessly different riding, of course , and of playing an interesting and often thrilling motorsport game. But think a minute - where else can anybody . male or female, young or old compete directly against the best in the country without first having to qualify or make a team or work up through eliminations? Any of us can challenge the top athletes in any sport. But unless we've already proved we're in their league we'll never get the chance to meet them face to face at their own game. Yet anyone can challenge Dick Bu rleso n , the Pentons , Skip Olson or any of the other winning enduro riders just by entering th e same events. It's one of a handful of sports where you get this cha nce . Strangely, at th e en d of an enduro no cheers ri ng ou t; no one's openly . elated by victory or dejected in defeat. Those who make it are happy, Those who fail ha ve ne.w stories to tell and hopes of a better ru n nex t time. And if the weather's be en good almost everyone thinks it was fun . It may be hours before th e scores are tabu lated and th e winners known . By then the crowded campground will be thinning. a nd many of the riders and their ' crews - wives. friends and chi ld re n - will be on the roa d home. The on es who sta y late a re th e ones who think they ha ve a ch a nce of taking home som e go ld . T hose who trophy get the best ki nd of applause - from th e rid ers who fou ght hardes t to keep them from winning . • (To be contin ued)

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